11/07/2011

Irish arts minister Jimmy Deenihan and Luxembourg’s communications and media minister François Biltgen have signed a bilateral co-production treaty at the Galway Film Fleadh.

The treaty will give producers from the two countries the chance to take advantage of subsidies and grants along with private finance and increase co-productions.

Deenihan said, “Co-production is of vital importance to the financing of the majority of Irish films and television production in Ireland, as well to the overall growth of the industry. For a country the size of Ireland there is no better way in which to raise international investment for projects of scale and it is fundamental to the way the industry is structured.”

Recent Ireland-Luxembourg co-productions include Ian Power’s The Runway [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Brendan Muldowney’s forthcoming Love Eternal. The first film that is likely to benefit from the treaty is Brendan Gleeson’s long gestating adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s novel At Swim Two Birds. Besides acting in it, Gleeson (photo) has also adapted the script and will direct. Luxembourg’s Jani Thiltes will produce alongside Ireland’s Parallel Films.

Gabriel Byrne, Colin Farrell, Michael Fassbender and Cillian Murphy are in talks to join the €7.5m film’s cast. “What exciting possibilities will be born out of this exciting co-production treaty including the film At Swim Two Birds, to be directed by the visionary Brendan Gleeson, which I have no doubt will find a worldwide audience,” Byrne said in a letter to Deenihan.